


From Pride to Shame

by dawnstruck



Category: Naruto
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Chapter 700 spoilers, Chinese Translation Available, Gen, M/M, Mild Angst, Next Gen, Office Sex, Rough Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-26 15:26:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2656976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawnstruck/pseuds/dawnstruck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiding in the Hokage office had seemed like a great idea.<br/>Uzumaki Bolt quickly found out that it really, really wasn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Pride to Shame

**Author's Note:**

> I seem to have developed a thing for office sex. But I guess there are worse kinks to have, so I'll just keep writing.
> 
>  
> 
> Chinese Translation available on http://sasadori.lofter.com/post/30b159_a1f32e6

“ _And we're all to blame_

_We've gone too far_

_From pride to shame_

_We're trying so hard_

_We're dying in vain_

_We're hopelessly blissful and blind”_

Sum 41 ~ All to Blame

 

He'd show them all. Kiba-sensei and Kaa-san and Sarada. But most of all, he'd show the Nanadaime.

Uzumaki Bolt was hiding in the Hokage office and waiting for his father to return.

It hadn't been difficult to get in. Everyone knew him, of course, and he had just shown up under the pretense of bringing a bento as his father had worked through the evening. Again.

Kaa-san used to prepare extra dinner when her husband was busy, but she'd stopped during that during the past few years. Instead, Himawari-chan had happily taken over that duty. She was best friends with Akemichi Chouchou after all and cooking together was one of their favorite past times, right after vigorous training.

Now, however, it offered Bolt the perfect excuse to saunter into the Hokage Tower after nightfall and set his plan in action.

Kiba-sensei had said that Team 1 wasn't ready for the chuunin exams yet. He'd given a long speech about how all their parents had nearly died during their first one because the jounin sensei had entered their own teams prematurely. Kiba-sensei didn't want to risk that, especially not when the Hokage's kid was his responsibility.

This opinion had been backed up by Kaa-san, Iruka-jisan and even Kakashi who admitted that he'd definitely overestimated his own students' abilities all those years ago.

The worst betrayal stemmed from Bolt's own teammates, though. Rock Bruce had proudly pointed out that his own father had only made it to chuunin when he was fifteen and that there was no shame in it. And stupid Uchiha Sarada had rolled her eyes and told Bolt that he should just learn to be patient.

After all, even the current Hokage had already been eighteen when he had finally been promoted.

But that was the point, really. Bolt would show them all. But most of all he would show his father and prove that he was worthy of becoming a chuunin at not quite fourteen.

Bolt knew he was ready. He had trained under some of the best shinobi Fire Country had to offer. From his official teachers like Shino-sensei and Kiba-sensei to the private tutoring he received from Iruka-jisan, Kakashi and his own mother. Even Tsunade-baa-chan occasionally helped out, though she had more of a soft spot for Himawari-chan.

The point was, Bolt was good. More than good. Because, sure, he still was a bit of a prankster. But he could fight. Hizashi-jii-san and Hanabi-basan had taught him all about the fighting style of the Hyuuga. And thanks to Kakashi he had been working on his father's signature technique, the rasengan.

So Bolt had tutelage, expertise and dedication. All he needed was acknowledgment.

Which was why he had decided that the best way to prove his worth was to somehow up the Nanadaime.

 

Bolt knew that he held absolutely no chance of ever beating his father in a fight. But he had other talents. Like stealth.

Sneaking and hiding his chakra signature had always been his forte. He was a prankster, after all.

So now, Uzumaki Bolt found himself hiding in the closet that where the Hokage kept some random scrolls and a few sets of clothes. After all, he barely came home anymore. What for, when the divorce was almost through and all he had for his wife were strained smiles while Hinata was painfully polite.

That was another reason why Bolt wanted to show his father. Uzumaki Naruto was arrogant and selfish and had broken Kaa-san's heart, always too busy with work instead of taking care of his family.

Himawari-chan said that she didn't mind, that to Tou-san the whole village was his family and he was just trying to do his best. Bolt did mind, though. He minded quite a bit.

So now he'd just stay here, hide a bit and watch his father work. Maybe he'd reveal himself at some point, maybe he'd steal something and sneak out. Whatever he deemed best to make his father recommend Bolt for the chuunin exams.

It wasn't so much about the exams, Bolt admitted to himself, but it was an easy excuse. One that didn't hurt as much.

Five minutes after Bolt had gotten somewhat comfortable in the closet and properly set up all the means that would hopefully prevent his recovery, the seventh Hokage returned to the office.

The gap in the closet door was just big enough for Bolt to watch as his father sat down behind the desk and started reading through some paperwork.

Naruto looked tired or stressed or both, Bolt noted. He kept rubbing the ball of his thumb over his eyes, re-reading the same page over an over again.

Bolt resisted the urge to groan. He hadn't thought about how boring this would be. It also made his guts clench painfully. Because why the hell would his father rather do this than come home and spent time with his kids?

 

After another quarter of an hour, Naruto finally set down the papers.

“I know you're there,” he said mildly and Bolt broke out in cold sweat. He'd been discovered, just like that. Now he'd have to face punishment and ridicule and his father's disappointed look.

Before he could even make a move to step out of the closet, though, something caught his attention.

A figure slinking out of the shadows near the open window, completely silent. Bolt barely caught his gasp from escaping. He hadn't noticed the intruder at all.

Intruder was a bit of a strong word, he amended, when the person stepped into the light of the desk lamp. It was an ANBU, tall and slender and probably male. His mask was that of a bird of prey, a hawk or a falcon or something, the markings dark blue and gray and a red so deep it was almost black.

Bolt first assumed that it must have been one of the ANBU guards posted all around the Tower, but that couldn't be. This one's armor was dirty, the clothes ripped in places. He looked like he had just been fighting, just returned from a mission, and it took Bolt a moment to realize that the red paint on the mask was actually a splatter of blood.

With very important missions, ANBU usually reported directly back to the Hokage. But this one didn't say anything. He gave no sign of deference, no bow, no nod, no greeting. He should have been kneeling in front of the desk instead of sneaking behind the Nanadaime's back.

A traitor, Bolt thought. An assassination attempt. The ANBU had killed the other guards and now come for his real target. Bolt wouldn't be much help in such a high-scale fight, but at least he could offer some sort of distraction, buy his father some time.

But Naruto didn't seem threatened at all, just kept pushing his paperwork together and stacking in up on one side of the desk.

“Give me some more minutes,” he said, “I just have to sign these and then-”

But in a flash the ANBU had come closer, sinking his fingers into blond hair and pulling roughly to tilt the head back. Exposing his throat to cut it, Bolt thought, his mouth dry.

“Asshole,” Naruto only growled lowly, vaguely annoyed, but there was a breathlessness to it, like suppressed laughter and maybe something else.

“I trust your mission went well then?” he asked, making a move to stand up. The ANBU didn't let him, though, sending a swift punch to his stomach. Naruto winched, but didn't hunch over, merely rubbing a hand over the bruised spot.

“Like that, huh?” he asked and grinned wryly, “I've been thinking about it for the past week, you know?”

The ANBU still had his hand tightly gripping the short hair, but this time he pulled Naruto forward by it, making him tumble out of the chair and fall to his knees with a dull thud.

 

Why isn't he fighting back, Bolt thought frantically. Why isn't he doing he anything?

But the allegedly most powerful man in shinobi history just kept kneeling there, arms at his sides and chin tilted up in a defiant manner. Despite the vulnerable position he didn't appear weak or defeated, his shoulders squared and the right corner of his mouth curved upwards as this were all a game.

Did you learn to be this unflappable when you made chuunin or jounin? Or what that all the Uzumaki Naruto brand of suave?

Kakashi and Iruka-jisan said that Naruto had always been clumsy and loud as a kid. Sakura-basan said that he had mooned after her for ages and made a fool of himself pretty much every occasion he got.

Bolt had never quite seen that side of his father. Tou-san's voice often had a booming quality to it, when he told a joke or spoke a reprimand. But he always seemed tightly controlled, his movements strong but sure, with a certain type of undercurrent to it, as if there was boiling something just underneath the surface that he barely kept in check.

There was the Kyuubi, of course, but to Bolt it seemed more than that. A kind of ferocity. A ruthlessness.

Now that was all still there and yet the Hokage made no move to use it. He didn't reach for a kunai, didn't form a seal, instead just watching as the ANBU reached his unoccupied hand down to his trousers.

A concealed weapon, Bolt thought wildly, which was stupid because there were plenty of other weapons on the man. A katana strapped across his back, a thigh holster full of the standard kunai and shuriken. A dagger in his boot.

Kakashi had taught Bolt how to look and actually see. Right now, Bolt wasn't sure what he was seeing.

The ANBU was wearing black, fingerless gloves, the dark cloth a stark contrast to his white fingers as they started undoing the strings that held up his trousers. He did it slowly, deliberately, and still Naruto just watched.

Finally, the ANBU had loosened the fastenings just enough that he could pull out his cock.

Bolt stared, frozen. The man was hard and fully erect. Suddenly, there was no more mistaking his intent. This was no assassination attempt. It was worse.

Maybe that finally got through to Naruto as well, because he started squirming, just a bit, twisting his head to the side in spite of the fingers still digging into his scalp. Yet the ANBU kept him in place, tightening his grip and taking a hold of his erection.

He stepped closer, uncomfortably close, angling his cock so it was pointed at Naruto's mouth.

No, Bolt's mind shouted helplessly, now knowing what to do. No no no no no.

Naruto kept his mouth closed, teeth clenched, but the ANBU only let got of his cock, putting a hand to Naruto's chin instead and prying his jaws apart with some well-placed pressure from his thumb.

As soon as Naruto's mouth was forced open, the ANBU drove all the way in, his hips jutting forward in a sharp movement. Naruto gave a choked groan and jerked, but the strong hands held firmly.

 

Bolt was by no means unaware of how sex worked. He had been tutored by Hatake Kakashi after all and was friends with Yamanaka Inojin, child of two of Konoha's greatest perverts. But to bear witness to this sent him reeling.

He had come here tonight to prove a point to all who doubted him. Not to watch as some ANBU fucked the Hokage's face.

The thrusts weren't shallow, weren't careful, and Bolt would have called it violation if it weren't for the fact that Naruto was just taking it.

No, he wasn't just taking it, Bolt realized. He was bobbing his head and moaning, saliva running down his chin. His hands had finally moved, but only to grab a hold of the still clothed hips, gaining leverage.

The Great Uzumaki Naruto was getting used by one of his subordinates and enjoying it.

Did Kaa-san know about this? Was this the reason for the divorce? Or had Tou-san only started this affair when it had become apparent that his marriage held no future?

It certainly didn't seem like a first time experience. There seemed to be a certain familiarity between the two men that made it clear that this wasn't a spontaneous or even recent development.

Naruto definitely seemed to know what his partner liked best because soon enough the ANBU's thrusts stuttered, indicating that his climax was upon him. He didn't make a single sound, but Naruto moaned as he swallowed the load. At the last second, the ANBU pulled back, a splatter of cum landing on Naruto's face.

But whereas the blood-stained mask of the ANBU remained unmoved, the Hokage merely licked his swollen lips, the look in his eyes hungry.

Slowly, he got to his feet, but as soon as he was standing the ANBU grabbed him and spun him around, roughly slamming him down against the surface of the desk. Some of the paperwork fluttered to the ground, but neither paid it any attention.

Instead the ANBU just reached inside one of the drawers, pulling out a tube of fluid. Lube, Bolt recognized, still stunned. All doubts whether this was the first time this had happened were erased in that moment. His father and his secret lover had a routine.

 

One hand closed around the base of Naruto's neck and pressing him down, the ANBU managed to deftly open the tube with the other, squirting lube into his palm and then spreading it on his cock, stroking himself back to hardness.

Naruto dropped his forehead against the desktop so Bolt couldn't see his face, but his body language was obvious enough. He was tense, not in anticipation of a battle, but of something better.

Occasionally, Bolt had witnessed something similar when the Hokage had a friendly spar with one or more of his friends. Few people offered much of a challenge for him. There were Kakashi and the Kazekage, of course. Rock Lee valiantly held his ground and so did Sakura-basan and Uchiha Sasuke.

Despite the man supposedly being Naruto's best friend, Bolt had never grown up to consider him something of an uncle like he did with Iruka-jisan and Kakashi and even Gaara. Then again, Sasuke had never been around enough that Sarada properly considered him her father, so Bolt had no right to complain.

Sasuke wasn't the type to drop by for tea or go out for sake to get drunk. In fact, Bolt had never even known Naruto and Sasuke to have a decent conversation which raised the question why they even considered themselves best friends at all.

He had never gotten the full story, only caught bits and pieces here and there, of Sasuke running from Konoha and Naruto dragging him back. It sounded like a shit friendship, at least to Bolt, but then he had seen the two of them spar for the first time.

It couldn't even be called sparring. Sparring was for fun, for training. You gave your best, but you didn't go all out.

Sasuke and Naruto did go all out.

Bolt had stumbled upon them when looking for a remote training field to improve his shuriken throwing and they hadn't noticed him, so caught up in each other, and he had just watched in fascination.

Sometimes they moved too fast for him to follow and then they just stood motionless, staring at each other from across the field. They didn't bother with any sort of weapon, using only their bodies, mostly taijutsu. There were some clones, some illusions, Sasuke activating the sharingan, and then it all just exploded. Tou-san fired up a rasenshuriken and Sasuke used Kakashi's chidori and then they went flying at each other.

Bolt would have thought they were trying to kill each other if hadn't been for the grins on their faces.

They sent their attacks hurling at each other and for a few terrifying moments Bolt was blinded. Once the glare faded, though, the training field had been obliterated.

Sasuke and Naruto were standing on opposite sides of the clearing. The were both unharmed but it was in that moment that Bolt realized that this was how they had both lost an arm. Not just during some random mission or accident, but fighting each other. Fighting each other like this and almost ending up dead, but still calling each other best friends.

They had made their way across the field with slow, steady steps until they were directly standing in front of each other. Naruto had laughed obnoxiously and stuck out his good arm. Sasuke had reciprocated the fist bump, but then they just stood there at arms length, their fingers tangled together in a not-quite handshake.

Bolt had run home and never told anyone what he had witnessed.

He'd never tell anyone about this either.

Because now the ANBU was giving a small, but not exactly gentle kick and Naruto hurried to drag down his own pants just enough to allow access. Immediately, the ANBU let go of his own cock and used the lube on Naruto instead.

A few short minutes of preparation couldn't possibly be enough, but then the ANBU was already positioning himself and he just pushed in.

Still there was no sound from the ANBU, no hiss, no moan, but Naruto arched his back with a loud gasp, pushing back against the hold the other man had on him. He wasn't exactly struggling, just putting up enough of a fight that the ANBU had to keep on alert. It was merely the pretense of an unequal difference in strength.

If that was what his father got off on then maybe it really was no surprise that his parents' relationship had gone to shit.

 

All of Bolt screamed at him how wrong this was on so many levels, but at the same time his eyes refused to look away. The two men were outright fucking now, and Bolt tried to tune out the fact that he was watching his father have sex, tried looking at this from an objective point of view.

Sometimes a shinobi had to distance himself from a mission, Kiba-sensei had explained. Sometimes you needed to find a corner in your head where none of it was real, where you could watch friends and enemies die and still keep going. It took a while to find this corner. Apparently, Bolt hadn't found his yet.

Because there was no way for him to ignore that this was his father getting fucked over his desk. Uzumaki Naruto threw his head back in a moan and a laugh. It was a careless sound, one that Bolt had never heard from that mouth before.

But Naruto was writhing now and sweating and whimpering, and Bolt wondered whether anyone apart from the unknown ANBU had ever seen this side of their Hokage.

Did Naruto entertain more than just one lover? Did he use his position to coerce people into doing this? Since the ANBU was still wearing his mask and keeping so quiet, it was difficult to tell, but he seemed to be enjoying himself just as much.

Soon Naruto's breath caught and his eyes widened. The ANBU, reading the signs, sped up his thrusts, the fucking turning even more vicious than before. They came together, without a hand to Naruto's cock, his fingers instead clenching around the edge of the desk.

The ANBU tilted his face towards the ceiling, shoulders dropping as the tension released. His hips kept moving, just slightly, but then he bent down, his upper body curving around Naruto's back so that his mask touched the place between the still clothed shoulders.

Naruto reached back then to tangle his fingers into the headscarf that hid the ANBU's hair, and for a few moments they just stayed like this, caught up in their post-orgasmic bliss.

This was too intimate for just sex. To deliberate for a random affair. This held meaning and affection. Bolt felt bile rise up in his throat.

 

“Ah, damn, I'm tired now,” the Hokage sounded vaguely amused, “Paperwork is really exhausting, you know?”

The ANBU had already properly dressed himself again and was walking over to the couch in the corner of the office. With some quick movements he had unfolded the couch so that it offered more room to sleep.

Did this always happen when Tou-san spent the night at the office, Bolt wondered. Did he have a secret life tugged away here in these walls, just like that?

“I know you just returned from your mission,” Naruto said, decent again, but still looking disheveled, “But... could you stay the night? Or just a few hours?”

The ANBU nodded and Naruto gave a grateful smile.

“I sleep better when you're near,” he admitted, almost shyly now, “And... can you finally take of that stupid mask? I wanna kiss you.”

Bolt held his breath. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to know the identity of the man. After all, he had already seen too much as it was.

The ANBU stepped closer again, close enough that Naruto could lift his hands and remove the mask and scarf himself. From this angle, Bolt could only see some pitch-black hair, nothing more.

Naruto smiled when the ANBU loosely closed his arms around his waist and leaned in.

“Dobe,” a deep voice muttered affectionately and there were kissing sound, a series of small pecks.

“You're not injured then?” Naruto asked, slightly anxious, “Damn it, I should've asked that the moment you walked in, but I've missed you so damn much, I just couldn't-”

He was cut off by another kiss, but didn't seem to mind, letting himself be steered over to the couch and plopping down on the cushions. The ANBU sat next to him and for a few moments they just sat there in a half-hug. Eventually, Naruto seemed to relax and then just slumped into the ANBU.

Bolt still hadn't seen the man's face, his father's head in the way, and it was probably for the best. He didn't want to cross some random shinobi on the street and realize that this was the man who'd been fucking his father.

So he clenched his eyes shut when the ANBU started moving Naruto into a more comfortable position on the sofa. The Hokage was apparently fast asleep now while the ANBU's showed no sign of fatigue, neither in the aftermath of his mission nor because of the sex.

Bolt wondered when he would get an opportunity to escape, because the ANBU didn't seem likely to sleep any time soon, but he had also promised Naruto that he would stay some more hours. Bolt's conundrum just seemed to be getting worse and worse. At some time Kaa-san and Himawari-chan would wonder where he had ended up and come looking for him. He couldn't risk that.

During his frantic plans for escape, he had completely missed that the ANBU had gotten up from the sofa and walked across the room. Suddenly, the door to the closet was opened and, when the light washed over Bolt, his own eyes flew open as well.

His multi-layered disguise was still holding strong, but none of that mattered when he found the sharingan staring down on him.

Uchiha Sasuke's face was an his ANBU mask, cold and unimpressed.

“An admirable exercise in stealth, but a poor idea to go spying on the Hokage,” he said, his voice flat.

Bolt's mouth was completely dry, making it difficult to speak, “When did you notice me?”

“As soon as I stepped into the room,” Sasuke answered calmly, “Though at first I wasn't sure who exactly was hiding.”

But at some point he had figured it out and just kept going anyway. A horrible thought occurred to Bolt.

He licked his lips in a nervous manner, “Did Tou-san know?”

“No,” some movement on the Uchiha's face, a tiny smirk, “I had him sufficiently distracted, don't you agree?”

At that, Bolt blushed hotly, feeling ashamed and indignant and a lot of other things that he didn't dare express because the man could possibly kill him with his little toe.

“You should be careful,” he warned anyway, feeling foolishly daring, “Because I could tell my mother-”

“She already knows,” Sasuke interrupted, sounding almost bored. Then he gave a small sigh.

“I didn't want you to see this,” he continued, his tone gentling, but not by much, “The dobe certainly didn't want you to see this. But I guess at some point you would have found out anyway.”

“That you're fucking my father?” Bolt hissed, careful to keep his voice down as not to wake said father.

“That some things in life aren't as straightforward as the teachers at the Academy would like to made you believe,” a strange look of regret flickered over the man's face, there and then gone again, “Good and evil. Life and death. One kind of love and... another.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Bolt asked through clenched teeth, feeling annoyed at being belittled like this.

“Your father loves you. And you sister. And your mother,” Sasuke replied, unfazed, “The Hokage loves the village. The children and the elders. The shinobi and the civilians. But Naruto-”

“Naruto loves you,” Bolt finished for him with a glare, “Is that what you are saying?”

Sasuke just gave a shrug, “What do you think you just saw? What that love? Was that sex or frustration or some closeted queer bending over for anyone who'll take him?”

Bolt pursed his lips, knowing that he didn't need to answer that.

 

Sasuke stepped back, leaving the door wide open.

“Run along then,” he said mildly, “And try not to think about it too much. That your parents are getting divorced does not mean that you are losing either of them. Believe me.”

Bolt knew enough about the massacre many years ago. After all, one of his teammate was the only other Uchiha in existence.

Slowly, he inched out of the closet, keeping his gaze on the man. Then he dashed across the room and jumped out of the window. Once he had made sure that no one had followed him, he chakra-glued his palms to the side of the building, just underneath the window sill, close enough to hear what was being said inside of the office.

“What was that?” Naruto asked, words slow and slurred.

“Nothing,” Sasuke said gently, “Go back to sleep.”

“Hold me for a bit?”

“Of course.”

Bolt decided to leave then, but the words kept echoing in his head for the rest of the night.

 

 

 

“You've been unusually quiet,” Sarada noticed, sitting down next to him on the stairs where they were waiting for Kiba-sensei and Rock Bruce to show up.

“Hm,” Bolt made a non-committal sound.

“Did something happen?” she asked and God, why did girls always want to talk about feeling?

Then again, this was Uchiha Sarada. She did not touch feelings with a ten-foot pole. The fact that she was now willing to inquire after his well-being probably said a lot about how his current mood must look to other people.

“Is this still about the chuunin exam?” she asked, not nearly as exasperated as she had seemed all the times before, “If it's that important to you, me and Bruce and can talk to Kiba-sensei and try to change his mind after all.”

“It's not about that,” Bolt derailed her. He hadn't even thought about the exam since what he witnessed in the Hokage's office.

“What then?” Sarada wanted to know, probably because a distracted teammate was a liability.

“Did your parents ever tell you why they never got married?” Bolt asked in a rush and her eyed widened in surprise.

“Well,” she began, short of stammering, and did an aborted hand movement towards her face. Kiba-sensei had adviced her to get contact lenses because they wouldn't be in the way of fighting, but sometimes she still tried to push her glasses up her nose before realizing that they weren't there anymore.

“My mother said that father had always loved someone else, but she had been okay with that,” the girl answered clinically and rather bluntly. With anyone else Bolt would have taken it for an attempt to distract from hurt feelings, but Sarada actually didn't seem to mind the knowledge that she wasn't a love child. “He needed to continue the bloodline, though.”

“Did she ever tell you who that person was?” he asked her, realizing just now how badly he needed to talk to someone. He had thought that if he just kept quiet, the problem would just go away. That it would all seem like some strange nightmare. But it was still real and terrifying.

“No,” Sarada replied calmy, “And I thought it improper to ask.”

“Did you know that my parents are getting divorced?” he continued, not overly surprised when she nodded, “Kaa-san hinted at it.”

“Did she mention _why_?”

A silent head shake.

“That person your father is still in love with,” Bolt pushed on, fueled by anger and confusion, “Is _my_ father. They are fucking. Have been for ages, as it seems.”

For a moment, Sarada just stared at him. Her hand reached up towards her nose again, but this time she disguised it as fiddling with her hair instead, an oddly girly and insecure gesture coming from her.

“You saw them then?” she concluded and it said something that she wasn't just brushing him off as deluded.

“Yes,” Bolt replied, the word a mere hiss.

“How unfortunate,” Sarada only commented and he stared at her.

“Our fathers are having an affair that our mothers know about and now _we_ know about - and you only call it _unfortunate?_ ” he demanded, his whole body shaking, “That's a bit of an understatement, don't you think?”

“I guess that if you hoped your parents might still salvage their marriage, then it might be a be of a let-down,” she admitted, “But to me... it doesn't come as much of a shock.”

He frowned, “Why the hell not?”

“Tou-sama loves me,” she said primly, “Sometimes he doesn't know how to show it, but he does. He loves my mother, in a way, and he holds some affectionate respect for Kakashi-sempai. But when he speaks of your father...”

She breaks off for a moment, seemingly having to think of the best way to put everything into words.

“When I was little I thought it was just because Nanadaime-sama was the Hokage. That Tou-sama simply looked up to him and wanted to protect him, as every Konoha shinobi should,” she explained, “But then, one day, he took me aside and started telling me all about his life.”

She's silent for a moment, her expression almost vacant.

“I think he meant it as a warning so that I would never repeat any of his mistakes. He told me of his clan's death at the hands of his brother. About his anger and helplessness and obsession with revenge. He ran away from Konoha when he was only thirteen and stayed a traitor for three long years. He hurt a lot of people, my mother included.”

She cleared her throat, not quite choked up, but definitely affected by the tale.

“He kept repeating about how important friendship was. How I should learn to trust and be loyal. That some people would be able to hurt me, but that my true friends would always help put me back together. He said that that was was Nanadaime-sama did. He said, 'Naruto saved me when no one else could'. So... I guess now it finally makes sense. That they've been in love this whole time.”

“Don't tell me you read this as some tragic love story,” Bolt groaned and made a disgusted face, though for some reason it was difficult.”

“That's not the point,” Sarada shrugged, “I can't claim to know my father very well. But I don't think he'd bother with some illicit affair. It think... him and Naruto-sama actually loving each other is an acceptable compromise.”

“That's so corny,” Bolt complained and stuck out his tongue in a mock gag. Sarada actually smiled a little.

“Do I sense the power of love in the pleasant morning air of Konoha?!” a familiar voice exclaimed behind them and both Sarada and Bolt flinched.

“My teammates' animosity seems to have subsided and I find them sitting side by side in intimate conversation!” Rock Bruce declared happily, “In honor of this joyous occasion I shall run two-hundred laps around the village!”

“Bruce,” Bolt winced, digging a finger into his ear to relieve the pressure on his abused ear drum, “Not this early in the morning. And there's no love in the air. Not between Sarada and me.”

“Nevertheless I shall run two-hundred laps for all the people for a in love today,” Bruce announced, “Will you join me in my youthful endeavor?”

Suddenly, Kiba-sensei and Akamaru were there as well, both of them showing their teeth in a wolfish grin.

“I have no idea what Bruce is on about, but two-hundred laps sounds like a nice warm-up, don't you think, kids?” Kiba-sensei asked devilishly.

“Will you join us as well, sensei?” Sarada asked pointedly.

“Of course,” Kiba-sensei replied and promptly jumped onto Akamaru's back who then started running, “Off we go!”

“Yosh!” Bruce agreed with a fist pump and immediately followed after them.

“I hate this team,” Bolt muttered, shaking his head.

“More than you hate my father fucking your father?” Sarada teased and when Bolt's brain had finally computed that she had just made a joke and used the word fucking, she was already halfway down the road.

“Hey!” he yelled out, his legs starting to move, “Wait for me!”

Maybe the Uchiha weren't so bad after all.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Lee's son is called Bruce. Deal with it.


End file.
